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Product Lifecycles - A Primer

Just like any other product you may encounter in your day to day
activities, software has a lifecycle as well. It's almost like a "best
before" date. Even though the software still works it's time to move to a newer release. The IBM Software Support Lifecycle policy
explains the details of the length of support and all other information
that may come in handy as your customers approach the end of support of
any IM product.

Some key points in the Lifecycle policy are:

Provide a minimum of 5 years of product technical support beginning at the planned availability date of the version/release of the product.

Ensure support is available for all IBM components of a product or until the product or bundle is withdrawn from support. In addition, all components of a bundle have a common End of Service date.

Publish a notice of support discontinuance "End of Service" for a product at least 12 months prior to the effective date.

Align the effective date of support discontinuance "End of Service"to occur on common dates either in the months of April or September.

Make support extensions available, for an additional fee, for a minimum period of three (3) years following the product's effective support discontinuance date. Support extensions are designed to allow migration to the current release to be successfully completed.

As per the policy, announcements come out a year in advance so many
customers either forget or feel they never even received the
information. It's a good idea to review this site
every once in a while and look up your product either by the brand it
is in or using the alphabetical list. You can update your "My Notifications"to receive important support information or you can customize their IBM Support Portal site to focus on the products you care about.

It's a good idea to move to a newer version of software before it goes
out of support. The last thing you want to hear is that you have been
denied support because the product is no longer in service. Proactive
steps in the year prior to the end of service of a product can help you
avoid those embarrassing "of course my card still has a balance left on it" type moments! :-)

If you are interested in finding out about Service Extensions, contact your sales rep. Refer to the following site to find inside sales contact numbers Planetwide.